Doubts have been raised over whether Queensland’s coal seam gas fields can produce enough to feed Curtis Island’s LNG export plants, with claims that many wells are not meeting production expectations. Houston-based drilling suppler, Superior Energy Services, said it is forecasting growth in the sunshine state on the back of poor well performance. The company, which employs more than 14,000 people worldwide and boasts a turnover of $US4bn says its eastern Australian business is set for a growth spurt, The Australian reported.

"When we are talking to the operators in Queensland, we hear from them that the coal-seam gas (wells) that currently have been drilled are actually not meeting the production expectations," SES head of Asia Pacific, Ruud Boendermaker, told investors last week. "So what they have to do is to drill a lot more CSG wells in the next few years because of the commitments to the LNG trains that they are currently building in the north of Queensland."

Boendermaker said the coal seams are not as homogeneous or permeable as expected, claiming this has led to poor well performance. SES did not say which projects needed more wells, or which areas in the state were experiencing issues, however the company’s Toowoomba office contracts to drillers rather than to the LNG proponents directly.

The calls comes as a former executive for one of the projects told The Australian that the gas fields’ "sweet spots" had not been as large as anticipated.